Chapter 2 2

Chapter 2 – Mulberry

Kazimir and I made our way back to the locker room where I quickly changed into my clothes. I used a towel to wipe some of the blood off my body. I would have preferred a shower but since we had a high number of Bratva members prowling the building, we headed for the exit.

I stepped up to the pay cage and collected the winning prize of two million rubles, which is over twenty thousand euros. The man behind the metal bars congratulated me before he passed me an envelope in the shape of a large brick. Kazimir stood with his back to me, scanning our surroundings carefully. I handed the envelope with the money to him and he shoved it down the front of his pants for safekeeping.

“Why am I always the one guarding the money?” He groaned as he adjusted his crotch.

“Because you have more room in your briefs than I do.” I suppressed a chuckle.

“Is that why my whores scream louder than yours?” He laughed.

Twenty thousand euros was not much to tempt any sane person into a deathmatch, but it’s not the prize winnings we’re after. It’s the bets Kazimir placed. Icepick was a local Russian favorite, so betting against him yielded us just over thirty million rubles.

Gambling wasn’t the only source of income Kazimir and I had. Kazimir held a degree in computer science and cybersecurity, he could hack into any system including government and financial institutions. He was a skilled thief. We regularly used his talent to skim small withdrawals from accounts. Targeting people who would never miss it. Accounts already engaged in illegal activity, money laundering, and corruption. Most human

politicians had campaign accounts set up for this purpose, which we gladly took advantage of.

“I’m starving,” Kazimir said as we slipped into the back seat of our waiting taxi.

“The hotel restaurant should be open for another hour. I need a shower and we have an early flight,” I reminded him.

Twenty minutes later, our taxi arrived at our hotel. Kazimir paid the driver and made his way to the hotel restaurant. I walked through the lobby and decided to take the stairs to our suite. I picked up a fresh sweet mulberry scent, but the stairwell was vacant. I reached our suite and quickly opened my laptop to check the bank wires for our winning bets this evening. All three wires were complete and Kazimir would move the money in the morning. I looked at the screen, thirty million rubles was just over three hundred and fifty thousand euros in today's market. Not bad for one fight.

I turned around and made my way to the shower. Peeling off my clothes, I noticed the remaining dried blood on my body. I was a monster, and I knew it. I let the hot water wash over me for a while before I lathered up. I was almost done when I heard the front door open in the living quarters of the suite. Kazimir had returned with our food.

I finished rinsing my hair and turned off the water. I heard the hurried footsteps in the living room and realized the footsteps were not heavy enough to be Kazimir’s. Standing still for a moment, I tried to sense Kazimir’s wolf, Kuzma. As an Alpha, Kuzma also radiates a strong aura but the aura in the other room did not belong to anyone I was expecting. I wrapped a towel around my waist and stepped out with water still dripping from my hair. My eyes quickly scanned the living quarters of the suite. Kazimir’s room was on the opposite side of the suite.

A fresh stack of towels placed on the table near the front door caught my attention. Haze stirred inside of me, and something felt off. I circled the room and scented the air. Mulberry. The door opened and the smell of food drifted in when Kazimir stepped inside.

“Did you see housekeeping in the hall?” I asked.

“At this hour?” He regarded me. “It’s almost midnight.”

“Towels were delivered while I was in the shower.” I fucking hated Russia. Something always made me uneasy being here. Like the walls had ears and the windows had eyes.

Kazimir sniffed the air, trying to scent the person. “Sweet Mulberry,” I told him, and he nodded.

Last night when we arrived in Moscow, we hit the hottest new nightclub in town. After dancing with several beautiful women, we returned to the hotel with extra company for the night. Their scents still lingered in the room, but the sweet mulberry was recent and new. My eyes locked in on my laptop and it was still brightly lit, indicating it wasn’t in sleep mode. I moved closer and the realization hit me.

“Fuck!” I growled and Kazimir looked over my shoulder. The money that had been wired into our account, had quickly been transferred out to an encrypted account.

“I’ll break that thief's neck, woman or not!” Kazimir rushed out into the hall to hunt down the mulberry-scented thief.

I rushed out behind him, still wrapped in the white hotel towel. I recalled the scent at the far-end stairwell and rushed to it at top speed. Several floors below, I could hear the sound of footsteps on the stairs moving quickly. I practically leaped down each flight of stairs until the mulberry scent grew stronger. I caught a glimpse of long golden blonde hair as she raced down the stairs.

I sprang down the final flight of stairs and reached my arm out, sending her crashing into the wall, and watched her fall to the ground. She wrapped her arms around her waist and let out a groan as she turned to face me. I looked her over. She was dressed in a hotel housekeeping uniform, though I wasn’t sure if she worked at the hotel. She was the thief.

Reaching down, I wrapped my fist in her hair and pulled her to her feet. She met my angry gaze and terror filled her face. She quickly lowered her eyes in submission. Her hand reached for my fist as if silently begging me to loosen my hold, but I tightened my grasp.

“If you scream, I’ll rip your tongue out,” I snarled. “Move.” I kept my fist wrapped in her hair and resisted the urge to drag her up twelve floors of stairs.

Her eyes darted around as she considered an escape plan. The beating of her heart grew more rapid with every level of stairs we ascended. I took her in more closely. She was fairly young, maybe nineteen at most. She was taller than an average woman with a slender figure. She may look innocent, but I knew what she really was, a cunning little thief.

The door on the ground floor was pushed open and we both stopped in our tracks. She took a deep breath as she prepared to scream, and I quickly cupped my hand over her mouth. I squeezed my hand over her mouth roughly, which was sure to leave a bruise.

“Hades?” Kazimir’s voice called out.

“I have her,” I called down the stairwell. We were at the eighth-floor landing.

“Is she alone?” He asked.

“I don’t know yet,” I replied.

“I’ll scan the hotel and surrounding areas. Try not to kill her before we can retrieve the money.” The ground floor door closed as Kazimir set out to look for anyone working with her.

We reached the door to the suite, and I paused in frustration. In my haste to find the thief, I left the key in the room. The bath towel was still wrapped low on my hips.

“How did you get into my room?” I asked fighting the urge to pull her hair harder.

When she didn’t answer, I reached my hand out to search her body for a key to the suite. She had managed to enter with the towels, so she would have used a master key. I reached into the front pockets of her uniform dress and found them empty. I scanned her over for other pockets or hiding spots and the only other possible place was in her underwear. With my free hand, I reached the neckline of her uniform and gave it a harsh tug. The dress ripped down to her belly button and exposed her to me.

My eyes were immediately drawn to her lace bra, and I could see the plastic key card tucked inside. She tried to pull back, but I was quick. I shoved my hand into her bra and retrieved the key without a second thought. She let out a small squeak of shock and crossed her arms over her breasts. I turned my attention to the door, loosening my hold on her hair and she pulled out of my grasp.

She turned to run. In her panic, she tripped over her feet and landed with a hard thud on the floor. I reached down to pick her up, but she started kicking and screaming, trying to scramble away. My large hands wrapped around her waist, and I hoisted her over my shoulder. When I walked through the door of the suite, I was met with resistance. She had extended her arms out and firmly held on to the door jamb as if that would stop me. I resisted the urge to laugh and quickly reached up to deliver two sharp, open-palmed, spanks to her ass. She let out a gasp and dropped her hands. The sting of my firm palm stunned her.

I continued into the suite and dropped her on the sofa. She pulled back into the cushions with eyes wide open, locked on my center. I looked down, realizing I’d lost my towel somewhere along the way. Her face flushed and she turned her gaze away from me.

Nudity never bothered me, but she was reacting to seeing me naked. She tried to pull the uniform dress back together and folded her arms to help cover herself. I considered grabbing my sweats from my room, but I didn’t want to risk her running off. Kazimir would be back soon, so I decided to wait.

“Your name?” I asked. She tensed, pressing her lips together, and refused to answer. I wondered if she spoke English.

“Oh little girl. You’re in so much trouble.” I said with a dark undertone, and she tried to sink herself deeper into the couch. She clearly understood my implication.

“Who are you working for?” I allowed my full aura to radiate. Even her simple human mind should be able to register a level of danger in my presence.

She swallowed and squeezed her eyes shut. Her arms were still crossed tight, trying to cover her exposed chest. I stepped forward and gripped her chin, jerking it up to face me. Her eyes popped open, and her blue eyes met my angry gaze.

“I want my money back, you little thief. You can either transfer it back and I might consider letting you go, or you can pay with your body.” I snarled. I could see a tremor roll through her as terror flashed on her face. While I hated the idea of rape, I knew the threat of it might rattle her.

“Oh yes,” I allowed my eyes to travel over her body, trying to unnerve her. “When I’m done breaking you in, my brother will also take his turn with you.” Her eyes moved to the floor and she inhaled a deep shaky breath. Fuck, I’m a cruel bastard.

The door opened up and Kazimir stalked inside. He stopped mid-step and inhaled deeply recognizing the mulberry scent. His eyes took in the girl before me, her ripped dress and trembling fingers as she tried to hold her dress closed. Then he gave me a raised eyebrow, reminding me I was still naked.

“Am I interrupting something?”

“I lost my towel when she tried to get away.” I scoffed.

Kazimir looked like he wanted to burst out laughing at the idea of anyone getting away from me. As if a helpless kitten could escape a hungry

lion. He stalked towards her and she looked around frantically, considering her escape options. This little human girl had more guts than most. She broke into our hotel suite, intercepted a wire transfer, and had the nerve to think she could escape two predators in the room with her.

“LOOK AT ME!” Kazimir barked out an order. His cold gray eyes assessed her.

Her head snapped up and she held his gaze. It was impressive considering most cower under the gaze of his cold hardened stare. Kazimir may be an Alpha, but he’s not as vicious as I can be. Being the fifth born son, he had more humanity than most of us, though you would never know it at this moment. Right now, Kazimir looked like he could kill. His gray eyes turned dark and his knuckles turned white from clenching his fists so hard.

I wanted our money as much as he did, and I was willing to torture the female before us. It doesn’t take much to break a human. I walked over to the towels by the door and wrapped another towel around my waist. I looked at Kazimir and his face was contorted into an angry scowl.

“A fucking human.” He growled. I wasn’t sure if he was angry because she was human or because a human had managed to extort our money.

“Would you like to start with the whip or cane?” I asked and her eyes darted to me then back to Kazimir.

“Kahk tibeyeh zavoot?” Kazimir demanded in Russian, asking her name.

“Menya zavoot, Alina,” her soft voice whispered. “Alina,” he repeated.

“Do you speak English?” I asked and she nodded her head.

“I know it was you. You wired the money to an encrypted account. I need the account number you sent our money to.” Her eyes darted back to

Kazimir who had not taken his eyes off her.

“Oh for fucks sake!” Kazimir growled and reached his arm over his back, removing his long-sleeved shirt and tossing it to her. “Put this on.”

I eyed him curiously. I wasn’t sure if Kazimir was attracted to her or frustrated with her innocent appeal. He usually preferred older, experienced women, but he looked like he was struggling with something. Kuzma was on the surface and Kazimir looked like he might lose all control over his wolf. Alina quickly slipped his shirt over her head and pushed her arms through the sleeves. She looked down at the oversized shirt and brought her nose to the collar.

I turned my head to Kazimir who gave me a pained expression. Kazimir never showed emotions. His Russian blood was as cold as Russian vodka. Everything about Kazimir was always controlled and calculated. He shoved his fingers through his dark blond hair and suddenly kicked the chair beside him. Alina stifled a scream when the chair sailed across the room and crashed into the wall. Kazimir turned to face me, his eyes looked wild as they flickered between the black of his wolf and his usual gray. His breathing was erratic. Anger pulsed from him.

“Yeah. She gave me a fucking human!”